She Makes Me Smile
by KissofJudas
Summary: Postshow finale. She always seems to show up just when Toby needed someone to talk to. doesn't remember when or how he met her...she just was always...there. OFC, I'm sorry. But it's not romantic. R&R please!


_Thwapthwap._

_Thwapthwap._

_Thwapthwap._

"Ya know, when you bust a hole in a wall with that confounded ball, I'm just going to laugh at you."

Toby caught the ball abruptly and glanced at his front door. The slightest of smiles graced the older man's features when he saw who was standing in the doorway. He had always thought it was ridiculous to let a girl probably somewhere between twenty to thirty years his minor – probably closer to thirty as he thought about it – make him smile like this, but she just had such a life about her. He'd always thought that if she were older or he were younger, they could have had one hell of a fling. But for now, she'd just show up in his life in the moments he never expected, and seem to hold every answer to every problem he'd had. He couldn't remember when he'd met her, but whatever that day was, it was very special to Toby Ziegler.

"Evening, Alexi...can I help you?"

She just laughed and flung herself onto his couch. "Now, my dear Tobias, do I ever show up needing help?"

He grumbled at her usage of his name, but mainly for effect...for tradition...because she expected him to. "No...can I get you something to drink?"

"No, you've only ever got hard nasty stuff that I wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole. Got anything sweeter than your smile?"

"Somehow I don't think that's a compliment on my glowing personality. I have one sweet drink that got left over here the other day..."

"Go get that, I'll see what it is." As Toby walked out, Alexi called after him, "Speaking of which, how's Andi doing? Spoken to her recently?"

Toby didn't answer until he'd come back into the room. "She was here earlier...she dropped Huck and Molly off. The drink is hers. Here."

She caught the bottle he tossed to her and nodded at it in approval. "Fuzzy navel; your ex has good taste." Toby grunted in response, eliciting a giggle from Alexi. "How are the little Zieglers doing?"

Toby smirked. "They're fine. Asleep for the moment."

"How old are they now?"

"They'll be three soon."

"Getting ready for Halloween?"

Toby rolled his eyes. "That's all I hear about. Apparently it's my turn to take them trick-or-treating."

"Oh, that'll be cute, Tobias. What are they dressing up as?"

"A princess and a knight."

"Fitting combination. What about you?"

Toby gave Alexi an askance look. "I don't get dressed up."

"Go as a frumpy ex-White House employee. I bet you could pull off that costume."

"So it's make fun of Toby day, eh? I appreciate it. Usually you're a bit more helpful to my mood."

Alexi laughed and tucked her feet up under her, facing Toby and taking a sip of her drink. "I'm sorry, Toby. You're just a such an easy target." She sat up a bit straighter. "What do you need to talk about?"

Toby chuckled at that. "You'd think I called you. What makes you think that I need someone to talk to?"

"Because every time I show up, you do."

"Why do you show up?"

"Because I know you need someone to talk to."

"From a source?"

"A rather reliable one, indeed."

"Danny Concannon."

Alexi just smiled. She'd been a reporter in a previous life, and still held many of her contacts. "My reliable source wishes to stay anonymous, so that neither he nor his wife – your good friend and one of the few people you still keep in contact with from the administration from time to time – get in trouble."

"So I was right."

"That's not the question, Tobias. The question is, why is the rose bush outside your door dead?"

Toby blinked. Not exactly the question he was expecting, but since when did Alexi make any sense. "Pardon?"

"Even the flowers you live around are dying, Tobias! Why won't you live? Is it Andi? Is it CJ? Or is it the fact that you're still torn between two women, and neither of them want you or can have you?"

Toby glowered. As much as he hated the sentence, there were days when he felt she was right. Part of him wanted Andi back, and just to be able to live in a house with her and Huck and Molly and not have to worry about custody or when the next time he was going to see them was going to be. And try as he might to hide it, there was always a little bit of a connection between him and CJ Cregg. But of course, nothing had even been done about that, and besides, Danny Concannon had always been the secret love affair that CJ would follow. The vivacious reporter made Toby look like a rock. "Alexi..."

"What, Toby? Are you mad that I've seen it? Are you angry that a 27-year-old can read farther into the depression of a 56-year-old man better than he can? I've known you long enough to see the trends, Tobias Zachary, I don't need Danny to tell me that CJ said you sound off."

"So it was Danny."

Alexi sighed. "You make me angry."

"If I had a nickel for every time I heard a woman tell me that, I'd be rich."

As much as the girl tried to hold onto her anger, Toby's retort made her smile again, allowing for a small laugh. "I've never understood it, Tobias. You have a sense of humor in there...why don't people ever see it?"

Toby shrugged. "No idea." Alexi shook her head and set down her bottle so that she could come over and give Toby a hug from behind, wrapping her arms around his neck. Setting one hand awkwardly over her arms, he turned his head slightly so that he could see her a bit better. "What's this for?"

"Because I think you need it, Toby. I can't be the girl of your dreams, no matter how much I wish I could some days, but you just need a hug now and then. I think it would do you good."

"Thanks, Dr. Morgan." He gave her the best hug he could from his position, and as soon as he let her go, she bounded back to the couch and picked up her drink. "Don't you have anywhere else to be, Alexi?"

She shook her head, taking another sip. "No, not really. Lynn's out for the weekend back to Pennsylvania to visit with her cousin, and so no one's at the house and Danny's busy with CJ and the tyke." Lynn was Alexi's best friend and roommate, and the two couldn't have been more different from the sounds for it. While Alexi was outgoing and sexy, Lynn seemed to be more down to earth, introverted, and girl-next-door-ish...which always made Toby wonder why he hadn't met her. He seemed to have more in common with Lynn.

"And Lynn and Danny are your only friends outside of me?"

Alexi smiled. "Only ones worth leaving my house for, and I needed to get out. It's weird when it's empty."

Soft footsteps on the stairs stopped the conversation abruptly. "Daddy?" a young female voice said, sleep evidently still holding the child.

Alexi grinned as she glanced back to watch Toby kneel in front of his daughter. "What is it, Molly?"

"I had a bad dream...is that Auntie Alexi?"

Toby rolled his eyes. Three years old and she was ADD enough to distract her off of a bad dream. "Yes hon, that's Aunt Alexi."

Alexi jumped over the back of the couch to pick up Molly in a bear hug. "Hey there honey. You had a bad dream?"

Molly nodded, rubbing her eyes. "A monster came and ate Mommy and Daddy."

Alexi nodded gravely, understanding the severity of the issue. "Tell you what. Can you go upstairs for a minute, and then Auntie Alexi will come up and tell you a story so that you'll have happy dreams?" Molly nodded quickly, remembering past moments involving Alexi's stories, and was back up the stairs as soon as Alexi had let her go. Toby shook his head. "I don't believe you," he said softly.

"What?"

"If I had tried to do that, she would have laughed at me."

Alexi grinned and walked over to Toby, looking up at him. "I would have laughed at you too, Tobias. I can only imagine you telling a bedtime story; that's probably why she had nightmares." Toby glared and all Alexi could do was laugh. "Call CJ, Toby. Talk to her for a while; it's not too late out there yet, it's only about seven. I'm sure it'd lighten your mood a little."

Toby grumbled for a moment. "I'm sure she's doing something -"

"Call her, Tobias. She's expecting you, and the monster wants to talk to this Uncle Toby Mommy keeps talking about."

Toby had to register at least a small smile at that. Of course the Concannon child would know about him...of course CJ would talk about him. At least... "Fine. You go put my daughter to sleep and I'll go call a married woman so that I can talk to her child."

"Sounds like a plan." She gave Toby another quick hug and went for the stairs.

Toby was almost to the phone when he heard Alexi's voice. "Tobias?" He turned back. "Feeling a least a little better?"

What else could he say? He said exactly what he thought, which made her giggle and vanish from sight.

"You make me smile."


End file.
